9/29/2016

How many times have we heard the claim that capitalism is an awful system and that it must be replaced with socialism as it's the only system that actually cares for its people and treats them as equals?

Far too many.

What's worse is that there are plenty of examples in history to show that it is socialism in all its forms that is an awful system, impoverishing the very people it's supposed to be helping, and in many cases devolves into a form or totalitarianism. What's my proof?

The Capitalism versus Socialism experiment has been run many times over the past 400 years, in some cases as a side-by-side experiment, and capitalism has won out over socialism every single time. Yet every generation or so someone feels they have to try the experiment again, and once again some nation ends up under a socialist system and yet again it fails, sometimes violently. They choose to ignore history, or worse, figure that they're smarter than those who went before (they aren't) and that this time they'll get it right (they won't).

One of the big side-by-side experiments was undertaken about 70 years ago and it proved conclusively that socialism was a failure.

Experimentation is a major tool in the scientist’s arsenal. We can put the same strain of bacteria into two Petri dishes, for example, and compare the relative effects of two different antibiotics.

What if we could do the same with economic systems? We could take a country and destroy its political and economic fabric through, say, a natural disaster or widespread pestilence – or a war. War is the ultimate political and economic cleansing agent. Its full devastation can send a country back almost to the beginning of civilization.

We could then take this war-torn country and divide it into two parts. It would have similar people, similar climate, similar potential trading partners, similar geography – but one part is rebuilt using capitalism as its base, while the other rebuilds using socialism and its principles. We’d let the virtues of each system play out and see where these two new countries would be after, say, fifty years.

Don’t you wonder what the outcome might be? Well, as it turns out, we have already performed The Experiment. It’s post-war Germany.

Following the devastation of World War II, Germany was split into two parts. The German Federal Republic, or West Germany, was rebuilt in the image of the western allies and a capitalist legal-political-economic system. By contrast, the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, was reconstructed using the socialist/communist principles championed by the Soviet Union. The Experiment. pitted the market economy of the West against the command economy of the East.

The results? West Germany became an economic powerhouse and its citizens garnered wealth that rivaled that of the rest of Europe. East Germany became an economic backwater that could not compete with its western counterpart, was an economic basket case that had a difficult time providing its citizens with the basic necessities, let alone any of the luxuries enjoyed just to the west. It wasn't until socialism collapsed and Germany was reunified that those in East Germany also received the benefits of a capitalist society.

Another experiment of that type that is still running after 64 years is North and South Korea. The difference between the totalitarian socialist system of North Korea stands in stark contrast the wealth and prosperity enjoyed by capitalist South Korea. Two different systems side-by-side and the outcome of that experiment is quite clear. Yet we still have people, particularly in this country, that seem to think the failed system is better. It just staggers the imagination to think that there are people who truly can't see just how bad it is...or they don't want to because to them it's a means of taking power and not in any way a means of creating a better system. (Of the two, I'd have to say it's probably a 50/50 split.)

One has to wonder if the disease of socialism will ever be cured. Yes, I call it a disease, in this case a mental disease because its adherents do the same thing over and over again but expect different results this time. According to Albert Einstein, such an affliction is known as insanity. We can only hope that one day humanity will find a lasting cure.

9/25/2016

We were in the 70's on Friday, the mid 60's on Saturday, and in the upper 50's/lower 60's today. Each day was colder than the one before.

I guess fall is coming one like gangbusters!

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I was talking with one of the regulars down at the village store Friday morning when he mentioned he'd been looking through some of the records at town hall, specifically the minutes of the Selectmen's meetings going back to the 1800's. He was curious to see what the most common subject came up on a regular basis and he was surprised to find that it was pretty much the most common topic we see at our meetings in the present: roads.

The problem with town roads is an ongoing one and one we're still dealing with over 200 years after the founding of our little town.

Some things never change.

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We know Hollywood has been running out of ideas and have resorted to doing the dreaded remakes of classic movies and rebooting popular TV series from the 60's, 70's, and 80's.

Some have been absolutely dismal failures. (Ghostbusters or National Lampoon's Vacation anyone?) Others have had some success (Hawaii Five O). Yet others we will have to wait and see if they survive, like MacGuyver and yet another Star Trek series.

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Last week, a ruling in the Supreme Court of the State of Arizona determined that any act that involves “intentionally or knowingly” touching a child under fifteen’s “private parts” would be deemed child molestation – and one of those very acts could be diaper changing. What?!

That would mean even a doctor or a parent changing a baby’s diaper would be breaking a law, even though they’re just doing their jobs, according to the report. Yes, that sounds crazy, but the majority ruled that the laws should be applied literally, and “therefore require no mental state beyond a person’s intentionally or knowingly touching a child’s ‘private parts.'”

My response would be to take babies with full diapers to the judges' chambers and let them deal with the consequences of their ruling.

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It's NASCAR weekend hear in New Hampshire with the second of the two of the Cup races taking place today.

I don't often watch NASCAR anymore unless they're racing at Loudon...and maybe Daytona. I would watch it today except I wasn't able to find out on which channel it would be aired. I checked the usual suspects and found nada.

WTF?

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Anyone who's been paying attention understands that wireless networks – WiFi – are both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is the ability to stay connected to the Net without being tethered by wires. The curse is that WiFi is nowhere near as secure as many believe it is, particularly when wireless access points/routers do not have their security settings configured properly.

As we know all too well, the National Security Agency has spent years perfecting ways to slurp up the data we generate as we go about our digital lives. Public desire to be ever-more connected plays right into the hands of the agency as it taps phones, exploits software vulnerabilities, and writes algorithms to scrape data that could incriminate would-be terrorists (or else intrude on the privacy of the innocent).

Spies’ intimate knowledge of the ways in which digital communications can be infiltrated has prevented them from adopting technology that most us take for granted—smartphones, tablets, even Wi-Fi. But not using such technology can slow down their jobs. “We’d be cutting off our noses to spite our faces by denying us those kinds of tools,” [said] Matt Conner, deputy chief information security officer of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

No matter how secure you think your WiFi network is, there are always security holes and backdoors waiting to be exploited by forces friendly and not so friendly.

This is something I've always known and why I don't have a smart phone. Any wireless device I do use generally has no personal information on it nor do I make any kind of transactions with it. With few exceptions, everything on it is uploaded via a wired connection and the WiFi (and Bluetooth) functions are shut off.

Am I being paranoid? Wrong question. The question is am I being paranoid enough?

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Gee, as if I needed to be told this!

Never take advice (particularly romantic advice) from feminists, and specifically from gender feminists. (Yes, there are different flavors of feminists. So-called equity feminists are more old school. Gender feminists have some serious mental issues and are not grounded in reality. They're the ones constantly pushing the “rape culture” and “oppressive patriarchy” memes to death.)

Read the whole thing.

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On tonight's World News on ABC, Tom Llamas stated that 100 million Americans are expected to watch the first debate between Hillary and Donald.

I have not yet decided whether I will be one of them if for no other reason than I am heartily sick of the whole process and still have about 6 weeks to go before we can end it.

On the other hand it might be amusing to see if Hillary self-destructs with her 'customary and usual' responses to questions about the economy, taxes, health care, education, and everything else. I also would like to see if Trump will cut of Lester Holt if he starts pontificating. As I read somewhere (I don't remember exactly where...maybe Instapundit), if Holt goes off on a tangent the best thing Trump can do is tell him “The American people are hear to listen to me and Hillary, not you.” It might be the only way to keep the debate on topic.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where a large number of boats have been pulled out for the season, the number of summerfolk has dwindled to nothing, and where we actually had to turn up the thermostat this morning to take the chill off.

9/24/2016

Timing is everything, or so it is said. The chart below goes along with my post from earlier today.

So I have to ask...again, why isn't Black Lives Matter protesting the real problem with the loss of black lives , that being blacks killing blacks?

I have to wonder whether it's because such protests would garner very little media attention. Or could it be that protesting against the minuscule number of whites killing backs is safer than protesting against the large number if blacks killing blacks? In either case, it's one heck of a disconnect.

Here are some hard truths that both Guilty White Liberals suffused with the “soft racism of low expectations” and many law-abiding black Americans need to hear. It may be uncomfortable and if you think you'll be traumatized or triggered by the following video's content....well, frankly I don't give a damn. Deal with it.

Amen.

Now all we need are some of the idiots who choose to ignore the realities and the false premise of Black Lives Matter to pay attention to see where the problem really lies.

9/23/2016

And so it is that so many ideas, projects, and programs that have been created by the Progressives have ended up leaving people worse off than if they'd done nothing. Of course, all of the Progressives who pushed these aforementioned ideas, projects, and programs had the best of intentions. For them, that's what's important – their intent and not the results. That's why they're leading the rest of us down the Road to Hell.

Begin with a libertarian goal that should be agreeable to most Progressives -- people should be able to live the way they wish. Add a classic Progressive goal -- we need more low income housing. Throw in a favored Progressive lifestyle -- we want to live in high density urban settings without owning a car.

From this is born the great idea of micro-housing, or one room apartments averaging less than 150 square feet. For young folks, they are nicer versions of the dorms they just left at college, with their own bathroom and kitchenette.

Ahh, but then throw in a number of other concerns of the Progressive Left, as administered by a city government in Seattle dominated by the Progressive Left. We don't want these poor people exploited! So we need to set minimum standards for the size and amenities of apartments. We need to make sure they are safe! So they must go through extensive design reviews. We need to respect the community! So existing residents are given the ability to comment or even veto projects. We can't trust these evil corporations building these things on their own! So all new construction is subject to planning and zoning. But we still need to keep rents low! So maximum rents are set at a number below what can be obtained, particularly given all these other new rules.

As a result, new micro-housing development has come to a halt. A Progressive lifestyle achieving Progressive goals is killed by Progressive regulatory concerns and fears of exploitation. How about those good intentions, where did they get you?

The moral of this story comes back to the very first item I listed, that people should be able to live the way they wish. Progressives feel like they believe this, but in practice they don't. They don't trust individuals to make decisions for themselves, because their core philosophy is dominated by the concept of exploitation of the powerless by the powerful, which in a free society means that they view individuals as idiotic, weak-willed suckers who are easily led to their own doom by the first clever corporation that comes along.

Ironically, it is the Progressives who are easily led to their own doom by the first clever bureaucrat, community organizer, or rent-seeker that comes along. In the end, all of their good intentions are whittled away by the always increasing meddling of fellow Progressives and their cronies who try to 'protect' the very people they're supposed to be helping. Who's going to protect the people from the very Progressives whose good intentions are harming them?

Progressives, by there very nature, can't leave well enough alone. It doesn't matter if things are working well. They can make it 'better' by applying their poorly thought out ideals, or so they tell everyone. But more often than not they take something that works, even though not perfectly, and turn it into something that neither works or helped any of the very people they intended to help. But at least they feel better about themselves, and that's what's really important in their lives.

Another example of this process: Obamacare.

Despite the crowing of the Progressives who say it's working, the evidence says otherwise. Between rapidly rising insurance rates, even more rapidly rising medical costs, and one exchange after another going belly up, only the truly deluded could say Obamacare has truly provide health care to anyone. Obamacare made health insurance available to those who didn't have it before, but a lot of others who did have health insurance prior to its implementation have lost their health insurance or seen its cost rise out of reach. Remember who it was that drove this godawful piece of legislation through Congress using a number of legislative sleights-of-hand (courtesy of Nancy Pelosi) and without a single Republican vote? The Progressives. They had good intentions, but the end result has been even less actual health care available at higher costs than if they'd left well enough alone.

But that's one lesson very few of them will ever learn. After all, it's all about feelz, not results.

9/20/2016

Though a few others have linked, and in some cases commented upon the “Intellectual Yet Idiot” post, I figured it was time I piled on, too. After all I know far too many of what are now being called IYIs.

What exactly is this IYI thing we all seem to be talking about? This:

What we have been seeing worldwide, from India to the UK to the US, is the rebellion against the inner circle of no-skin-in-the-game policy-making “clerks” and journalists-insiders, that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to think… and 5) who to vote for.

But the problem is the one-eyed following the blind: these self-described members of the “intelligenzia” can’t find a coconut in Coconut Island, meaning they aren’t intelligent enough to define intelligence hence fall into circularities — but their main skill is capacity to pass exams written by people like them. With psychology papers replicating less than 40%, dietary advice reversing after 30 years of fatphobia, macroeconomic analysis working worse than astrology, the appointment of Bernanke who was less than clueless of the risks, and pharmaceutical trials replicating at best only 1/3 of the time, people are perfectly entitled to rely on their own ancestral instinct and listen to their grandmothers (or Montaigne and such filtered classical knowledge) with a better track record than these policy-making goons.

The Intellectual Yet Idiot is a production of modernity hence has been accelerating since the mid twentieth century, to reach its local supremum today, along with the broad category of people without skin-in-the-game who have been invading many walks of life. Why? Simply, in most countries, the government’s role is between five and ten times what it was a century ago (expressed in percentage of GDP). The IYI seems ubiquitous in our lives but is still a small minority and is rarely seen outside specialized outlets, think tanks, the media, and universities — most people have proper jobs and there are not many openings for the IYI.

It seems that far too many of our so-called betters don't have the sense to come in out of the rain. They have no common sense, can't tell the difference between actual science and pseudoscience (or scientism), fall into the “but everyone knows such-and-such” trap of intellectual laziness, believe they know how we should live our lives when theirs are even worse than ours, and seem to think they have better use for our hard earned money than we do.

They cannot connect with us on either a mental or emotional level, meaning they really don't understand anyone who is not them. Yet they expect we'll bow down to their self-anointed 'superiority” and do what they tell us to do. Boy, are they in for a big surprise.

It's as Dana Loesch titled her book Flyover Country: You Can't Run A Country You've Never Been To. Most of the IYIs have never been to anyplace other than the two coasts, and even then not much farther north than New York, rubbing elbows with other IYIs. Even when they do venture outside their usual haunts, it's when they're on vacation and they insulate themselves from those not of the intelligentsia. (I've seen that here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, where their vacation spots are either high-end resorts or multimillion dollar lake cottages. They come to visit, but they never ever interact with anyone outside their circle unless forced into it, and even then they minimize whatever contact there is.)

To put it more succinctly, the IYIs figure they can make decisions for us or about us, but they have absolutely no skin in the game, meaning if they screw it up for us it doesn't affect them in any way. Most of us know that if there were consequences for them for the decisions they feel they should be making about or lives, they would pay more attention and get to know the people whose lives they're screwing with. With no consequences, there's no reason for them to spend the time agonizing over their actions. It's mind over matter – they don't mind because we don't matter.

But it turns out there are consequences for their actions, and they're finding out the hard way that those whose lives they think they should be running have had enough and are showing them by way of the ballot box. That's why Donald Trump is where he is today – the GOP nominee for President of the United States. The so-called “deplorables”, those looked down upon by the IYI, are letting them know in a way they cannot ignore or explain away.

9/18/2016

We've gotten into one of those typical New England late-summer weather patterns where one day the temperatures will be in the 60's during the day and 30's during the night followed by 80's and 60's the next few days. Not that I'm complaining. In fact, if the 70's and 80's last through October that would be fine with me.

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As is true in any small town, we've had our share of controversies, though they tend to be small compared to what's seen in the cities.

In this case it has to do with some logging that took place on some private conservation land. Some of my fellow townsfolk were outraged that such a thing would take place, not understanding that the logging was strategic, meaning it was done to help maintain the health of the woodlands on the property. But these same folks were horrified to see the tree cutting, assuming it was being done due to greed and profits.

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“What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”

As Glenn Reynolds wrote, it was “a pretty neat job of summing up the Obama era “

Indeed.

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This pretty well sums up why so many of us became bloggers, going back to just prior to September 11th, 2001. It also explains why some otherwise small blogs like The Drudge Report and Instapundit became the media monsters they are today – they cover the news the MSM either won't or can't without angering their liberal masters.

My dear brother started this blog back in June of 2002, primarily to offer political commentary at a time when the only other means of doing so was hoping you'd get your letter published by the local newspaper. It was also easier for us to do so as compared to our old Geocities website World Domination, Incorporated.

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I know Sears/Kmart has been struggling for years. The Sears cachet has faded away because management hasn't been able to adapt to the new marketing and sales trends. Our 'local' Sears (about 30 miles from The Manse) doesn't have the quality sales staff it used to. Too many of them have little knowledge of the goods they're selling (with the exception of the folks in the appliances department), don't know where to find items customers are looking for, and are nowhere to be found when a customer needs assistance. This is something seen in Sears stores across the nation.

Deb and I have been looking at a new refrigerator and have considered buying a Kenmore to replace the aging Kenmore presently residing in out kitchen. We may have to rethink that purchase and go with another brand because if Sears goes down it's likely so will the Kenmore brand name.

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Could it be that Democrats aren't really all that enthusiastic about their candidate, particularly since there are so many questions about her health? Could her comments about we 'deplorables' be driving the larger crowds seen at Trump appearances?

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They predict one thing, but reality intrudes and that 'thing' turns out to be wrong.

Remember when all of the warmists were predicting substantial increases is heat-related mortality? People would be dropping like flies during the warm weather months and it would all be the fault of global warming. Too bad (for them) that their predictions weren't even close to actual observations, or so says a study by Arizona State University's David Hondula.

We find that studies based on projected changes in climate indicate substantial increases in heat-related mortality and morbidity in the future, while observational studies based on historical climate and health records show a decrease in negative impacts during recent warming. The discrepancy between the two groups of studies generally involves how well and how quickly humans can adapt to changes in climate via physiological, behavioral, infrastructural, and/or technological adaptation, and how such adaptation is quantified.

So what they're saying is that we adapt to changes in the climate conditions, making physiological and infrastructure changes to do so. But isn't that what humans have been doing for millennia?

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And speaking of climate change, it appears the topic isn't all that important to most folks worldwide.

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As someone who’s probably not going to be in the top 1% of income earners this year (The year’s not over yet and I’m an optimist!), but who pays a lot more in taxes than I receive in government services, let me just note that I APPRECIATE those 1%ers who are paying nearly half of all federal income taxes. Real world, if you add it all up, most of these people are paying somewhere around 50% of their net income in taxes. The ones that aren’t typically are paying a capital gains tax which should be called the, “We’re going to hit you again on the money you already paid on once because we can” tax.

The reason I appreciate them is that there are so many people who aren’t paying a dime in income tax toward the good of the nation. If those of us who are paying more in taxes than we take in government services aren’t “paying our fair share,” then what about the people who aren’t paying any income tax at all?

I’m greedy because I don’t want to pay any more in taxes? No, greed is wanting to take government services paid for by everyone else without paying ANYTHING for them. Didn’t those people take the same road to Wal-Mart as the rest of us? Weren’t schools made available to them? Didn’t the police protect them, too? So, why shouldn’t they be paying SOME TOKEN INCOME TAX for that when liberals like Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have the gall to accuse other people of not paying their “fair share?”

Those of us who have been paying attention have understood that for a long time. We also understand who it is who has, when asked “How much should the rich pay in taxes”, their answer is always “More than they do now”.

That's greed.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer temps are hanging in there, there's still plenty of boating and swimming to do, and where we won't be upset if fall has to wait a few weeks longer.

9/16/2016

Mrs. Clinton calls this tax-cutting for billionaires and corporate-jet owners, which shows how unhappy her Presidency could be. Such Trumpian pragmatism—10% of $2 trillion is better than 35% of $0.

Hillary can't wait to get her hands on the approximately $650 billion in confiscatory tax revenues should US corporations repatriate over $2 trillion in overseas profits. That's one reason that $2 trillion is still sitting in banks overseas.

That money has already been taxed in the nations where that money was earned. But the US wants its cut too even though we are the only nation that taxes overseas earnings. The US also has the highest corporate tax rates in the world – 35% - which is why so many corporations have 'reverted', meaning they've moved their corporate headquarters to more tax friendly countries by acquiring a company in that country and shielding their non-US earnings from the predation of the Infernal Revenue Service and the bottomless greed of tax-and-spend politicians and bureaucrats.

9/12/2016

Th continuing kerfuffle over Hillary's diatribe against the so-called “basket of deplorables” keeps paying dividends if for no other reason than it shows just how bad the Left has become in regards to tolerance – they have absolutely none despite their touting their tolerance for other people's beliefs, be they religious, moral, or political.

“Throughout the western world,” author Mark Steyn has observed, ‘tolerance’ has become remarkably ‘intolerant,’ and ‘diversity’ demands ruthless conformity.” As Hillary made much too obvious, progressive multiculturalism may well be the most judgmental, vengeful, unforgiving quasi-religious sect abroad in the western world today, Islam included.

Black author Shelby Steele coined the phrase “zone of decency” to describe the sacred preserve in which progressives imagine themselves clustering. To distinguish themselves from lesser mortals, argued Steele, they are quick to “decertify” those who do not embrace the values du jour. As Steele argued, progressives need “only the display of social justice to win moral authority.”

In other words they don't really have to believe what it is they're putting forth in the way of social justice, they only have to look like they do.

The problem is that the curtain has been drawn back and we can now see exactly what they're doing and why...and it ain't pretty.

9/11/2016

It's amazing the difference seen between last weekend and this weekend. Last weekend everyone was rushing around, trying to fit in the last weekend of summer. Restaurants were busy, beaches were full, and lots of boats were out on the lake.

This weekend, things are relatively quiet. While there are still busy restaurants and people are still making use of the beaches and the lake, it isn't nearly as busy and most of the folks are local rather than summerfolk.

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I have had a tough time watching coverage of the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. At best I've been able to watch a few minutes before I've had to change the channel or turn off the TV.

As I wrote in my earlier post this morning, it may have happened fifteen years ago, but to some of us it was just yesterday.

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Apparently Hillary's diss of some of Trump's supporters the other day wasn't the first time she pulled something like that.

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All they know is that they want to ban it even though they haven't a clue what it is. That's as bad as the folks who want to hold big business accountable for the dihydrogen monoxide in their products and food producers for the DNA contained in the food they grow.

In other words, gun-free zones or gun-restricted zones were the targets of choice.

This flies in the face of the 21st century gun control movement’s claims that gun-free zones do not endanger innocents. It exposes the fallacy of arguments that present attackers as uninterested parties who choose a target by chance, never taking into account whether that target contains people who can shoot back.

The article goes on to list a number of the more recent mass shootings and the information from the shooters themselves why they chose the targets they did. The one common factor was that knew no one was likely to be armed, giving them a free-fire zone.

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September 11th is always a difficult day for me, as it is for many others. Even after all this time it still hurts.

This one was particularly bad because we had to say goodbye to one of our four-footed family memebrs.

Charlotte, a rescue cat found abandoned in a foreclosed house and that we took in some years ago, suffered a seizure today. A trip to the emergency veterinary clinic found multiple health issues and the prognosis was very poor.

She died in Deb's arms.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where things are quieting down, the weather is still good, and where there's a kitty shaped hole in our household.

She then went on to describe those supporters as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.”

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Hillary and many of her supporters are just as deplorable, but their prejudices are far more subtle and backhanded. They aren't blatant racists. They are far more insidious, using the “soft racism of low expectations” to justify their actions, all while keeping the very people they say they want to help under their control and indebted to them for ever.

If it is xenophobic to want to control immigration into our country and keep illegal immigrants from gaining entry, then I guess I'm xenophobic.

If it is racist to believe everyone of whatever race should have equal opportunities (not equal outcomes) and help them by getting out of their way rather then trapping them in dependency, then I guess I'm a racist.

If it is homophobic to not give a good goddamn about who wants to be with whomever, but to get sick and tired of having it shoved down our throats, then I guess I'm a homophobe.

If it is sexist to think that: 1.) the laws should apply equally to both sexes and that women should get a pass or preferential treatment in family and divorce courts, or that men should not automatically be presumed to be rapists just because they're men, or; 2.) I don't want to vote for Hillary because I think she's a liar, a crook, and for sale to the highest bidder, them I guess I'm sexist.

If it is Islamophobic to want to vet any Islamic refugee from the Middle East before allowing them into the US, then I guess I'm an Islamophobe.

And since I am apparently all those things, I guess I am also one of those 'deplorables' that Hillary has so glibly offended....and I'm proud to be branded as such by that self-centered, privileged, and dishonest harpy.

9/09/2016

Decades of effort, time spent in courts, state and federal, and legislation passed in state legislatures and Congress did away with segregation as it was known in the South. We thought the final nails had been driven into the coffin of government sanctioned institutional racial discrimination.

We were wrong.

But what's different this time is that it isn't state or local governments re-instituting racial segregation. It isn't the Aryan Nation or the KKK demanding the races be separated.

I also can't help but wonder what the radical forebears of today's liberal college students—who fought to end segregation in schools—would think about all this.

I also expect that there's a whirling sound coming from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's grave as his dream dies at the hands of the very people he and so many others fought to free decades ago. To think that the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those who risked their lives and their freedom to do away with the legacy of Jim Crow are now working hard to impose their own version upon themselves.

9/04/2016

The Labor Day Weekend arrived much as many of us expected it to – early and with lots of traffic.

I had the opportunity to leave from work early on Friday and the weekend traffic was already heavy by 1:30PM. By 5PM it was a nightmare. Everyone was coming up for the 'last' weekend of summer, trying to get one last weekend of boating, swimming, biking, hiking, grilling, partying, and eating summer treats from one of the local stands. So far every venue has been packed, traffic has been heavy, and people are going out of their minds trying to jam in as much 'relaxation' as they can during this long holiday weekend.

It's tiring just watching it.

While the crowds will soon be gone and some semblance of quiet will return to the lake, I am going to miss the hustle and bustle of summer. And while the leaf peepers will start making their presence by the end of the month, they still won't equate to what we see between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Once we get past Columbus Day it will very quiet.

Once again, summer has ended far too soon.

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Though I have commented upon this before, I feel the need to do so again.

Gluten, it's supposedly bad for you.

Of the entire population in the US, very few are actually gluten intolerant. Of all of the people I know, only two have actually been diagnosed with Celiac's Disease, one them not being diagnosed until she was in her late 30's.

But the gluten-is-bad craze has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, with all kinds of products being labeling as gluten free (and in some cases the manufacturer's charging a little more for those products). The thing is that unless the product has wheat, barley, or rye in it, it is highly unlikely there's any gluten in it. (To show just how stupid this has gotten, I've seen packages of yeast labeled 'Gluten Free'. All yeast is gluten free. I've also seen it on packages of maple sugar candies!)

I give it another year before this fades away, only to be replaced by something else that is equally stupid. Like P.T. Barnum once said, “There's a sucker born every minute.”

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We were supposed to be getting more, bigger, and nastier hurricanes because of anthropogenic global warming, at least that's what the AGW faithful have been saying for years.

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If Venezuelan troops start killing civilians at the orders of President Maduro, it will turn into a civil war. If it does, I expect Cuba will send troops to 'help' quell the rebellion against yet another failed socialist experiment.

The Left never learns from their own failures.

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So now Asians are considered white? Is that like that White Hispanic George Zimmerman?

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My dear brother and I briefly discussed the explosion of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral during a static fire test. Looking at the video it appears there was some kind of failure near the top of the second stage as that's where the explosion first appeared.

As my brother posited, considering the Falcon 9 was carrying a satellite for Facebook it might be wise to look at Google as a possible suspect.....[/sarc]

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On of the biggest factors that has made this technology so interesting is that a number of independent teams have been able to reproduce the results produced by EmDrive inventor Roger Shawyer. One UK aerospace company (who shall remain nameless) is so confident that it works that they have been working with Shawyer to develop a superconducting EmDrive thruster.

Without the need to haul a lot of rocket fuel in order to go from planet to planet, interplanetary spaceflight will go from something that is done now and then by unmanned probes to a regular occurrence.

Here's to their success.

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And that's the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer is quickly winding to a close, boating will continue for another 6 weeks or so, and where labor will still be taking place on Labor Day.

9/03/2016

As the Black Lives Matter movement evolves into a carefully orchestrated political force that does nothing to help blacks in our country, the political fires it is stoking are more likely to flare out of the control if its 'handlers', causing far more harm than if they did nothing.

What do BLM supports think will happen if they succeed in driving the police from their neighborhoods? Haven't they paid attention to the so-called Ferguson Effect? If they have, do they realize that if the police indeed do leave the neighborhoods because they have been driven away they will be living in free-fire zones? The gangs will take total control and no one in those neighborhoods will be safe. No one. The already high murder rates will skyrocket.

As more than one person has commented, those areas will become like New York City in Escape from New York. But then again, maybe that's just what some people actually want.